Genetically Enhanced
by flamingblade28
Summary: DAXoverMax comes to Ipswich, carrying guilt and dark secrets.As the citizens realize what her strength, attitude, and military knowledge means,and the outbreak of transgenics across the US, she'll face more rejection and cruelty than she's ever known.


Genetically Enhanced

"Are you sure it's safe here, Zack?" Max hissed at her brother." I mean is he even here?"

"You'll find him. Just go, Max. I'll be back soon." Zack replied, looking at her softly.

Max nodded, and stepped off the motorcycle.

"So, what's my age again?" She asked sarcastically. Zack smirked at her.

"Seventeen, from Denver." He replied promptly.

Max nodded and gazed at him. His blonde hair shifted in the wind, while hers whipped around her.

"Take care of yourself, Maxie." Zack whispered, and sped off. Max watched him for a minute and then turned to the old building she'd be searching.

"I'm coming to find you, 695."

A tall girl made her way through the crowd of students, trying to adjust the collar of her uniform. Her green eyes flickered at the faces, as if looking for someone. She stopped for a second, and with her hand, swept her long red hair from over her shoulder to behind her, with some pieces hanging in front of her face. She started at the sound of a crack. She whirled to see a student picking up a book. She forced herself to calm down and walked away, subconsciously rubbing the barcode on the back of her neck.

Max walked into the Administration office and up to the only desk that was still occupied. A grandmotherly looking secretary looked up and smiled sweetly at her.

"Miss Guevara, I presume?" she stated questionably.

"Yes, I'm Max Guevara." Max answered, smiling back at the lady.

"Here's your uniform, your schedule, and you're your dorm key. Welcome to Ipswich, and Spenser Academy."

Max made her way through the halls of the dorms, searching for her room. She shuffled all her things to one arm so she could unlock the door. Her face dropped into her characteristic frown as she slipped off her street clothes.

Max adjusted the collar of her uniform as far up as it would go, and then moved her long, dark brown hair over the barcode on the back of her neck. She then scanned her schedule, memorizing it. The she grabbed the books she'd need and her keys, and headed toward the door.

A girl about 5'5" stood before her. She was struggling with all her possessions and trying to grab her keys off the ground. Max smirked and bent down.

"Should I assume that you're my roommate?"

The girl looked up, and smiled at her. "You're Max. Max Guevara, from Seattle." She stated as she moved into the room. Max, being Max, tensed, getting ready for a fight. And relaxed again when the girl turned and showed her a barcode. 486, an X5, which meant there were more transgenics in Ipswich, Massachusetts.

'Kind of makes you wonder how far some of them got.' Max thought as she studied the girl in front of her.

"What's your name?" Max asked after a minute. "Do you even have one? And how many more of us are there here?"

"My name's Lauren, so yah, I obviously have one, and um, there are two X6's, one anomaly, and six more X5's, not including me." Lauren answered.

"Any of them with the designation 695?" Max demanded immediately.

"No. I don't think so. Honestly, I really try not to think of the designations. Reminds me of Manticore too much." Lauren answered.

Max nodded sympathetically, and gestured for Lauren to follow. Lauren rubbed her barcode, shifting her medium length blonde hair back and forth.

"Hey Lauren, who's your friend?" a blonde guy yelled out as she and Max walked into a classroom.

"An old girlfriend. The doctors brought her back." Lauren shot back at him. He sat back, seeming to be surprised at her sudden burst of bitchiness.

"Yes, it's true. I was shot through the heart and my right ventricle collapsed. I was officially dead for two months before they brought me back." Max stated, eyes wide and innocent.

"Yeah, right. Shot through the heart, my ass." The girl sitting next to him called. "With what, an arrow?"

"No, with a bullet. You know, a small piece of metal that gets shot through a barrel and can rip through flesh like a hot knife through butter?" Max countered slowly, as if talking to a child.

"Then prove it." She retorted.

"You know, I would, but I'm not a slut, like you obviously are. So I don't take my shirt off in front of people." Max threw back at her. The girl's jaw dropped and she looked at her classmates, most of whom were laughing.

(AN: Kira, if you hadn't already guessed.)

"Yeah, I thought so." Max smiled sarcastically at the red head.

The two female transgenics took seats up towards the middle, but both were ready to bolt if they had to. Lauren took out her notebook and flipped to a page, but Max just sat there, studying the layout of the room. It would probably come in handy, in case White showed up. But then again even if he did, Max intended to have all the transgenics out of Ipswich by then.

"Uh, Max, you might wanna-,"

"I'm not going to be here very long, none of us are. We're leaving soon, so why bother trying to learn useless things we'll never have to use, anyway? As soon as I find 695, we'll go to Seattle, but we're gonna be moving to a cabin up in the woods, it'll be safer for everyone."

Lauren nodded and leaned back, resting her head against the wall behind her.

"Hey Lauren, did you get question seven?" a guy with brown hair asked her.

"I don't know. Why?"

"Because it's one of those technical, military problems you do so well." Tyler answered. Beside Lauren, Max grinned.

"Ooh, irony. I guess those classes were worth it after all." Max quipped. Lauren smiled, then frowned and looked at her notebook, and grinned again.

"We didn't do question seven, Tyler."

"So, who's the babe?" the blonde next to him asked Lauren. She looked at him dryly, and stated,

"Didn't you hear? She's my old girlfriend, Reid, so she's not interested in guys. And she got enough on her plate." Lauren didn't noticed Tyler give her a curios stare, instead looking at Max, who was now ignoring them.

"Yeah, well she's hot." Reid retorted, shrugging.

Lauren rolled her eyes and turned back around. Max was doodling on a piece of paper, even though the professor was talking to her.

"Miss Guevara, have you heard a word I've said?" he finally asked angrily.

"Every word. I parallel process and multitask like there's no tomorrow." She answered, looking up at him boredly.

He blinked, a queer look on his face.

"Okay then." he spoke up. "Pass forward the assignment from our last class."

"Damn Max, do you expect to just sit there and stare off into space?" Lauren asked her after class.

"No, I expect to sit and daydream about my Ninja, which is at the moment in my apartment, probably covered in underwear." Max answered, then shuddered.

Lauren looked at her, then jumped.

"Hey, that's Conrad and Cole. Conrad! Cole!" She shouted, knowing they would hear her over the noise.

Two tall dark-haired males looked at Lauren and walked briskly over, questioning looks skating across their faces. When Max came into view, both pairs of eyes widened.

"Is this-?"

"452, but you can call me Max."

" 573, Conrad"

"527, Cole."

Nice to meet you, X5s?" Max questioned.

They both nodded. Conrad's blue eyes wrinkled, then he smiled. Cole looked at his friend, seeming to worry about his sanity. His eyes were a very clear green, and he looked at Max with a silent inquiry. She shrugged.

"So, where are the others? We need to find them, and get out of this school ASAP." Max said after a second more of silence.

" Jen and Mick are over there, and Ralph should be in our dorm by now." Cole replied promptly.

Max nodded and all four of the teenagers took off together.

"So there's really a safe place for us now? Where we can walk out of a house without worrying?" Jen asked in awe an hour later.

"Well, we have to watch out for Ordinaries outside, but other than that, Terminal City is as safe as it gets for us. As soon as I find 695, we'll leave. "

695, I don't know a 695. What's the description?"

"Male. Red hair, green eyes. About 17."

A senior, probably in AP classes. I could talk to Tyler, or Caleb. They'd know." Lauren mused, and nodded at the others agreement.

"Why do you need to find him?" Mick asked. "I mean, should we be worried?"

"He's infected with a virus. Every Ordinary he touches will die." Max replied, her eyes dark and troubled.

The others were silent for a moment, but then Cole spoke up.

"Well then, we better get to work. How are you gonna find out if he's even here?" he asked Max.

She grinned.

"By doing what I do best."


End file.
